Narnia - Crossing the Veil

I’m not writing a movie commentary here but I realize there are many lessons from the movie Narnia that are worth discussing and sharing. Personally I felt that my past three years exploring spirituality and myself is exactly the same (metaphorically) as what happened in the movie Narnia. The theme of crossing the veil into dream wonderland and returning to everyday reality with a deepened understanding of life, a renewed perspective and wisdom is analogous to one’s journey to find oneself.

Something for you to ponder… a quote from Claudio Naranjo (well-known psychotherapist enneagram teacher) based on Zen teachings:

“As a Zen story puts it, at the beginning of the journey the trees look like trees, the mountain looks like a mountain and the lake looks like a lake. In the middle of the journey the trees do not look like trees any more, the mountain does not look like a mountain, and the lake looks like a lake. But at the end of the journey the trees look like trees, the mountain looks like a mountain, and the lake looks like a lake. At beginning of the journey there is the pseudosanity of a merely intellectual knowledge that mountains are mountains, and the price of the rational view upon all personality is that of functional mutilation. In the middle of the journey there is acknowledged delusion and confusion. At this stage we can distinguish two avenues to the transformation of delusion into reality, compatible with each other and both present as components in a given approach.” - One Quest, Claudio Naranjo

Through experiencing the transient nature of reality by going beyond the everyday mundane reality can we then realize the deeper meanings of reality and life itself. The concept of life being an illusion, which forms the basis of core Buddhist teachings, can be understood and experienced through a deep journey within, into the veils of the unconscious, the unknown, or what some might call the psychic aspects of reality. Once one has moved beyond our five senses to experience that which is beyond the five senses, we gain wisdom and knowledge accessible through contacting the world not readily available to the conditioned and rational mind. This crossing of the veil is exactly what happens in the movie Narnia when the characters all crossed over to the magical land Narnia and through battling with the evil White Witch, saves Narnia from her long reign in winter.

Physical pilgrims or retreats also hold similar significance. (Although pilgrims probably hold greater spiritual significance given their more ritualized nature, the length of time of the pilgrim and the intent behind the act of going on a pilgrim from historical practices). Taking time out from our routine everyday life gives us that space to get in touch with parts of ourselves which are normally denied through mental pressures to conform or behave in ways that are not always in congruence with our deeper drives and desires and needs. Do you need to take a break?

When one returns from the other side (this doesn’t normally apply to just taking a break from routine life), it is as if everything that happened was a dream, yet the dream feels to many, as real as this reality. Perhaps the other side is even more real. And we become enlightened to our true nature. We remember who we are.

Follow Your Heart

A desire is fulfilled the moment it arises within you. It is against universal law to not have what we want. Yet, why is it that so many of us aren’t getting what we want or are getting what we don’t want? Perhaps the biggest problem is not that we cannot have what we want, it is that we do not truly know what we want. Success coach Anthony Robbins says, “Clarity is power”. When we are clear with ourselves what we want, the path naturally opens, whatever we want naturally comes.

I remember several incidences in my life where this is true. Many years ago, before I knew any of this universal law stuff, I suddenly started to really want a pug. My first dog Bobo had passed away for about 2 years, and for the first time after her passing, I wanted another dog. Specifically I wanted a pug. I guess I have always loved pugs. I tend to like dogs that have ugly funny faces, I find them so adorable that I literally drool over them. So for many days I started to feel a strong desire to have a pug, it was a heartfelt desire that had no strings attached. I wasn’t worried about not getting one, nor did I think over the consequences of having one or when I should have one. I simply felt a tug in my heart to have one. I remember for many days I would tell my friends that I really want a pug. Back then, work was too busy I didn’t bother to look for one either. I wanted one but I wasn’t intending to go find one. Then within a few days, my friend sent me a photo of this puppy pug that someone was giving away and I thought, might as well check her out!! The first time I saw Bee Bee (now my dog) she was an ugly, bony and grumpy dog who would not let you get close to her without attempting to snap at you. Well, the story went that mom and I decided to take her in and Bee Bee has now transformed into a plump, happy, and sometimes snappy pug but a very good-looking one. There’s a saying, “whatever comes unexpected is a gift from God..” Bee Bee certainly is!

Several months ago I kept feeling that I want to work more. At first I thought maybe I’ll be attracting more work opportunities either in the areas of spiritual therapies or starting new businesses of which I was contemplating at that time. The feeling continued yet outer circumstances did not provide much new work. In fact my spiritual healing work was dwindling and I was starting to wonder within myself whether I should be doing additional promotional work or further studies to take it further. Not long after, I had yet another rather transformational inner experience and few days after that, I began to really want to go back to finance. Of everything I thought I would want to do, finance was the last thing that was in mind before that. Not wanting to make any impulsive decisions, I decided to just sit out my feeling on that, and for many days and weeks after, I continued to want to go back into finance and in fact the feeling got stronger and stronger. Practicing what I practice, I always believe that as long as you’re aligned with your deepest heartfelt desire, you’ll always be where you need to be so I wasn’t in the least bit concerned with outer market conditions so that didn’t enter the equation of my thought process. I knew if I wanted a job, the job will land. And so it did, within less than one week of me writing the list of criteria I wanted in my new job, the opportunity literally landed on my lap. My ex-colleague, knowing that I was exploring the possibility of re-entering Private Equity, informed me of an attractive job opening and I immediately took action. With nearly zero effort (basically I made one phone call to that company’s CEO and had a 2 hour conversation with the CFO) I landed the job and will start work in several weeks time.

Nowadays I notice that I spent a lot of time getting clear with what I want. I manage myself through creating priority lists and I monitor and update them as things arise. It helps me focus my mind on exactly what I want and my laser-sharp intention helps bring to me the things that I want with utmost ease. Life is much less effortful and you have more free time to enjoy a balanced life. Get simple, get clear, life becomes a lot easier when you’re not expending your energy on acquiring excesses.

Another thing I’ve noticed. Always follow what your heart says in the moment, if you’re supposed to complete something by a certain time, but for whatever reason, you really want to do something else first, follow that. You’ll be surprised how where your heart leads you will help you complete what you need faster and better than what your rational mind can achieve. This takes a lot of practice as we’re accustomed to relying solely on our left-brains to achieve and complete tasks. Learning to follow your heart, which is often how you access your intuition, is the way we can leverage our right brain. Things happen more smoothly and effortlessly and again, life becomes easier.

Whatever you don’t want, cannot serve you. Whatever you do want, has to, in some way, whether or not it is evident to you at the time, more so than not.

So have you started to think about what you want? What do you feel a tug for? Let go of what you don’t want. Follow your heart, follow your flow. You will always be in the right place, in the right time.